ABSTRACT
Arab sources say that mosaic workers and materials were sent by the Byzantine emperors to help in the decoration of mosques in Medina and Damascus, where the surviving eighth-century mosaics may be the tangible proof of this cultural interchange. Support is lent by the much better documented despatch of Byzantine mosaicists to help in the decoration of the great mosque at Cordova during a time of diplomatic rapprochement and, once again, the results of this ancient diplomacy are still visible today. Byzantine diplomatic strategy was essentially defensive. The main purpose was to keep Aleppo, ruled by the Hamdanids and from the early eleventh century, the Mirdasids, an Arab dynasty of Bedouin origin, as an independent, tribute-paying, buffer state. The Byzantines arrived by sea: 'the Byzantine warships came looking magnificent bringing with them the Moslem prisoners'. Any prisoners who refused to do so were returned to the Byzantines.
